Spain and Morocco - Final, The Alhambra

HI, On Day 12 I travelled from the port of Malaga to the city of Granada to visit the Alhambra. Ruthe remained on the ship as she thought walking around the Alhambra would be too difficult.

The Alambra was the summer palace and gardens for the last Moorish dynasty to rule in Iberia. It was built during the first decade of the 14th century. This is a view looking out from one of the many windows.

Most of the gardens are a reconstruction so apparently they thought it was OK to build this outdoor performance area.

The gardesn are broken up into sections.

There are some interesting interesting details and

tile work.

Some of the areas have fountains.

Here we are looking from one area of the palace to another.

We left the palace for a bit in late morning. Here are some views in the vicinity of the palace.

This the courtyard of a the palace of Charles V.

In the afternoon we reentered the Alhambra. Here we found typical Moorish decorative carving and painting of the walls (above and one below).

This is an iconic view.

More typical decoration.

Our last day was spent on a few sights in Malaga. As I looked at the photos I did not find anything worth sharing so this is the final post for the trip.

Thanks for looking.

Spain and Morocco - 4, Cadiz

Hi, In the afternoon after our tour of Seville we boarded our ship, the Aegean Odyssey, and sailed down the Guadaira River to Cadiz.

Ruthe took some photos as we proceeded down river (above and 3 below).

After docking in Cadiz in the evening there was an opportunity to go ashore. This mime clown (above and below) was performing in a square near the ship.

This building, which I believe is the City Hall, is across the square.

I think this building is a church.

As a result of the Moorish influence in this area there is a great deal of tile work.

The next morning we traveled by bus to Jerez to visit a producer of sherry.

Sherry is produced by fermenting grapes. Every year a small portion of the sherry in the bottom row of barrels is drawn off and bottled. Then the same portion in the row of barrels above is drawn off and added to the bottom row. Small portions of wine continue to be moved down the rows until new grape juice is added to the top row. Hence sherry does not have vintage years.

The owners of this sherry producer collect works of art and we visited the gallery where a portion of their collection is on display (above and two below). Note this is not a public gallery.

This picture shows King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella accepting the surrender of the Moors after the final battle at Granada.

After we returned from Jerez some of us took a brief walking tour around Cadiz (above and five below).

These door handles caught my attention (above and below).

Thanks for looking. 

Spain and Morocco - 3, Seville B

Hi, Our last morning in Seville was spent touring that city.

This is a view of the outside of the Plaza de Espana from our hotel and

this is a street view from our bus. It is located in the Parque de Maria Luisa and was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.

We had an opportunity to spend some time inside the Plaza (above and five below).

This person is selling CDs

these two are selling art.

The panels are all done in tile.

The Columbus Monument is in the Gardens of Murillo.

Patterns attract me. Here are chimneys on a building in the park and

tree roots.

We walked to our next destination, the Gothic cathedral where Columbus was buried in 1898, taking photos as moved (above and below).

Here is an interior view in the cathedral and

here is Columbus' tomb.

Our final stop of the day was the Alcazar Royal Palace and Gardens (above and five below).

Thanks for looking.